How to unblock a toilet…with a mop

Okay, this is not one of my usual how-to posts, but I’m so proud of myself I just had to crow a little. 😀

Yes, the toilet in my late father’s area was blocked, and no, I didn’t invent the mop method. A friendly plumber told me how to fix a simple blockage years ago, but this is the first time I’ve actually had to put the theory to the test…and it works!

Basically what you need is a soft mop like this:

or like one of these:

A bucket and a pair of rubber gloves is also advisable.

Then you shove the head of the mop into the toilet, as far down as you can and kind of…pump it?

When you pull the mop head out, the level of water in the toilet will be much lower than its ‘normal’ level.

Flush, and the water should drain normally again.

I wish I could tell you why this works, but I can’t remember what that very nice plumber told me. If by some weird chance you read this, Mr Nice Plumber, please accept my heartfelt thanks, and that of my purse. 😀

The very small downside to using this method is that you have to sacrifice a mop to the toilet. The one I used is about to go under the house where it will stay until the next blockage. As for me, I’m going to be whistling happily as I go to the supermarket to buy a new mop.

$20 vs $100? No contest.

Cheers from a very happy Meeka. 🙂

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About acflory

I am the kind of person who always has to know why things are the way they are so my interests range from genetics and biology to politics and what makes people tick.
For fun I play online mmorpgs, read, listen to a music, dance when I get the chance and landscape my rather large block.
Work is writing. When a story I am working on is going well I'm on cloud nine. On bad days I go out and dig big holes...
View all posts by acflory

I own a pair of plungers, and I’m not afraid to use ’em 🙂
They are very inexpensive here, so we have an emergency one in the attic (disinfected and wrapped, and in a special box!) and one in the outdoor side passage

And…we are at the end of the sewerage drain for our side of the street, (but fortunately our level is lower than our neighbours) so when there’s a blockage further up the line, it’s us that need to deal with it. We’ve had to do that quite often over the 18 years since we’ve lived here. Fortunately, not had to lift the manhole cover for the past 3 years, so I’m hopeful that either the people flushing things they shouldn’t have moved, or (and this is what I really hope) they’ve stopped flushing things they shouldn’t down the lavvie.
Sorry if I made you urge there 😉

lol, it depends on where it is as to whose responsibility, and how bad it is, as to if it’s something we’ll tackle ourselves. each time it’s happened, our neighbour (we have a semi, and she was upstream, as it were) was in danger of it immediately flooding into her airbricks, and therefore under her floorboards. once we (well , mostly MrG!) cleared it once, it was simple, if unpleasant to do the following times.

Ugh, I’d forgotten about that aspect of things. We’ve been on septic for the last 14 years so haven’t had to deal with the communal aspects. I do not envy MrG that job. You’re lucky that he’s capable and can do it.
I’m very much into DIY where possible, but my plumbing skills start and stop with that mop.

I’m in the UK and I had to do this very job not long ago , I tried a sink pump unblocker , but no joy so I went to the builders merchant and discovered they sold a long handled unblocker with a strange end that fits a toilet bowl.
When we lived out in the sticks I had to buy a set of drain rods to clear the long main drain.

Gah, no way am I trying to unblock a full on drain! lol Then again, given the cost of plumbers, I may just have to follow your example one day. Not too soon though. Took me well over a week to drum up the intestinal fortitude to clear this one. 🙂

Truth be told I hope I don’t need to try the mop technique… but very good to know it works! I haven’t watched Southpark in years – it was OK to begin with in an ‘OMG, I can’t believe they did that’ sense of social satire, but it swiftly jumped the shark.